Just hubby and I

Norwegian Epic Cruise Review

Cruises: 7+ cruises
Review: 1
Helpful Votes: 18

Overall rating:

4.5 out of 5
Norwegian Epic

7 Night Caribbean: Great Stirrup Cay & Dominican Republic (Port Canaveral Roundtrip)

Sail date: January 14, 2024

Ship: Norwegian Epic

Traveled as: Couple

Reviewed: 9 months ago

Review summary

Honestly everyone will have an opinion, but just do your research, book reservations prior to boarding the ship for dinner (even though freestyle dining you don't have to, it is recommended!), and book your shows. Take everything with a grain of salt. A day at Sea is a better than a day at work!!

Embarkation

5 out of 5
So smooth. Onboard within half hour.

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

4 out of 5
No real concerns.

O'Sheehans Neighborhood Bar and Grill

3 out of 5

Alot of hype, long lineups. We tried it one night, it was later on, 10:30pm. Main dining times it was pretty busy. The wings were gross, definitely baked not fried and they were mushy. The pretzel bites and ceasar salad was yummy. They gave us free pop cause they messed up, I guess it was supposed to be from a can, but they gave us fountain. No difference to us.

The Manhattan Room

4 out of 5

Dined here every night but one. It was so nice to have a live band play during dinner, people getting up to dance. A really lovely atmosphere. Food was really good. Only one night I didn't like the side to the chicken, but no big deal. We booked my time dining prior to boarding the ship. No long waits. Those without reservations had long waits. My 2nd NCL cruise, hubby's first and I can say these were the most impersonal wait staff we've been served upon. They also don't know how to pour water, either your table cloth was soaking wet or the floor was full of ice and they'd just kick it under your table! It is what it is. It didn't dampen our dining experience. The last 2 nights the dancers from Burn the Floor performed during dinner. We always asked for a window table and got one every night but one.

Garden Cafe

4 out of 5

There was always a good variety. No complaints. Loved you have hard served ice cream in different flavours! As for staff, on last sea day, we had a late lunch and was finishing our drinks and started to play cards. As we saw others around us doing the same thing. This is about 2pm, buffet closes at 3. Some head person came to us and told us to leave, that we can't play cards in the buffet, that people need seats to eat food. Meanwhile, there were 6 empty tables around us, and others playing cards. Plus, we were still drinking coffee and our juice. We were taken aback, as we've never had that happen before.

Taste

4 out of 5

Had breakfast here, last sea day. Long lineup. Gave us a pager and said over 30 minute wait. We got buzzed about 7 minutes later. Omelet, breakfast potatoes and ham really good. Enjoy a window seat, again!!

Ice Bar

5 out of 5

Absolutely incredible experience and worth the $15 surcharge. You get to sample 4 different drinks. The guy doing the check in was a little crusty, but the bartender was phenomenal!!! We had no problem making reservations.

Onboard Activities

4 out of 5
Kind of meh. Not much to do for kids, if we had our kids with us, they'd be bored. Ship needs some tlc in pool area etc. Going for drydock April 2025.

Photo Gallery

2 out of 5

Same old/boring poses as on every other cruise line. They need to change it up. Their backgrounds were kind of ick too. And the highest priced photos we've seen at sea. $29.99 for 1 8x10. We always buy photos on our cruises, and for the first time, we did not. We did buy a Christmas ornament though, it was only $9.99.

Epic Casino

3 out of 5

I won a jackpot, so I was happy. But we had some issues and the staff didn't seem to care. And then we received a note in our cabin about a concern and to call front desk. We called, it was about the casino, we said we already resolved it, then they continued to call for another 2 days the front desk kept calling us. They should read notes on file.

Bowling

4 out of 5

We had fun. Only $7 per game. Our lane was good. But the one next to us kept shutting down and the first lane was broken. They should be open longer hours as I'm sure more people would've played.

Entertainment

4 out of 5
Reviewed separately above.

Epic Theatre

4 out of 5

Any seat you sit in, is a good view. The magician show was pretty good. Burn the Floor has so much hype about it, you gotta see it everyone says, and it was meh. Talked to a few others, on tours and they all agreed it needs to retire. The Newleywed/not so Newleywed show, the theatre was packed. And it was one of the most hilarious ones we have seen. And the audience engagement was amazing. We've seen these shows on all the ships we've sailed and I can say I've never laughed so hard! Bingo was packed on last sea day. They really should do the 18+ comedian shows in the theatre every night, the smaller venue is just way to small. And the only night they had +18 show was at 11:30pm. Kind of late for us, but I'm sure others had some good laughs.

Headliners Comedy Club

4 out of 5

Definitely need a bigger space for the comedy clubs!

Service and Staff

4 out of 5
For most part, no issues. Wait staff in dining room lack personal interaction. Watch when they pour water, either your table cloth soaking wet or ice on the floor, which they will kick under your table.

Ship Quality

4 out of 5
No real issues. Never saw dirty plates in hallways or staircases like other ships. Will be in drydock in a year. Decks 5,6,7 very narrow and crowded interior. Pack some patience.

Cabin / Stateroom

5 out of 5
Our cabin steward was amazing. Only 1 cleaning a day, but no problem for us. Didn't mind the layout. Had an inside. Tons of cupboard, drawer and shelf space. Put suitcases under bed for more room. People don't like the separate washroom and shower. Just pull curtain across, no biggie.

Ship tip

In hallways, fish on the carpet, facing forward means your walking to front of ship. Deck 13 front, go see the captains Bridge viewing room. Free! Deck 18 forward ship, take glass elevator outside lunch grill on deck 15 to 18. Lots of chairs on deck 18, no wind and nice and quiet. Waiter always walking around. Load your Starbucks gift card on your app, as you can use it onboard the ship at Starbucks!!

Ports of call

Amber Cove (Puerto Plata), Dominican Republic

5 out of 5
Last time we were in Amber Cove, it just opened a few months prior and we stayed at the port. This time we booked a local tour and had the best day ever!! Had to walk outside the gates, but we had a rickshaw that rode us out to the parking lot. We were grateful as it is a long walk. Our tour included a visit to the local rum factory and sampled 8 different rums. Went to a fort, that was closer to where the other Norwegian ship docked. Went up the cable car to the 3rd highest mountain. Amazing views. So beautiful. Then we were taken to a local place for lunch, went to pink street and learned the significance of the street, went to umbrella street, a local place that rolled cigars and learned about that as well and learned a salsa dance too. Our guide had rum and coke for us, water, pop. One of our best tours and we were back at port with an hour to shop.

Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas

5 out of 5
We had a shore excursion credit, so we booked the gondola up to Paradise point. We were in port from 6am to 2pm. Barely enough time to enjoy. They also changed our dock from Havensight to Crown Bay. Other side where we needed to go, had to take taxi $8 per person each way. We were there early about 9am and got up to top no problem. Enjoyed a very strong bushwacker drink and chilled out. The views were spectacular. When we went down, there was a long lineup to go up. We walked over to Havensight shopping, as it is much better than Crown Bay. And then cabbed back to the ship. As we sailed out of port, it started to cloud over and sprinkle.

San Juan, Puerto Rico

5 out of 5
We love this port. We got off the ship and walked along the seawall to the left. We knew we wanted to see the stray cats, at the pink house. We brought cat treats. They came running from everywhere when we shook the bag. They are not feral at all. Loved their pets, purrs and people were in awe that we knew to bring treats. You can adopt cats from here too. If you love cats, this was a treat! We continued to walk up to the fort. We didn't go in, but if you walk to the far right of the fort, there are steps you can walk down and your at the side of the fort along the sea wall. We got some amazing photos. Saw a few iguanas as well. We walked back towards the town, this was around 130-2 pm now, and tried to get into Barrachina the popular Pina colada restaurant but it was a 2 hour wait! So we found some other local restaurant and enjoyed some local cuisine. Walked back to the ship, had Starbucks and chilled for a bit and was able to see the sun setting as we boarded the ship.

Port Canaveral, Florida

5 out of 5
One of our favourite ports, easy!

Great Stirrup Cay (Cruise Line Private Island), Bahamas

5 out of 5
Quite wavy, had to wait about an hour before they decided it was ok to take the tender. We were one of first tenders. The island is small, not alot to do. Pretty much just a beach day. They could make due with a pool, for sure. The taco line up was 45 minutes long. Not worth the wait. We ate at the buffet and it was pretty good. No excursion. Just sat on chairs and chilled out. Had a margarita, was very strong. If you want frozen drink make sure you ask. Once off the tender, we went to the far right. Tons of chairs and a bit quieter. They also have a viewing platform to take some cool pics of the ship. And a couple swings too.

Disembarkation

5 out of 5
Off the ship and onto our shuttle in less than half hour. So quick. We did self disembark.
Was this review helpful? 18

9 Comments

Dumfy75     9 months ago

We love the Epic. Glad you decided to be positive about everything and have a great time.

javawoody     9 months ago

Thanks for the detailed and informative review.

PIRATAWENCH     9 months ago

Thanks for sharing and for the tips

purodude93     9 months ago

Hey I was on the same sailing as you.

Gwbigdog     9 months ago

Thanks for sharing

bubbles60     9 months ago

Glad you had a good trip

dkne     9 months ago

Meant for Port Canaveral, that is an easy embarkation/disembarkation port. We didn't tour here, as we stayed in Orlando pre cruise. Hotels are cheaper, and it's only a 45-minute drive.

cruising2004     9 months ago

Excellent summary and detailed review! Glad you had a wonderful cruise!

Niavlys     9 months ago

Thanks for your detailed review... As you say, everyone has an opinion and we have to take that with a grainof salt...

Other reviews of this sailing